Thermaltake V9 Black Edition PC Gaming Case

PC cases are much more than a place to stick your computer components into, they’re like a statement about who we are, each one has it’s own style and look just like us. Thermaltake is a company that makes many types of products and cases are a big part of their lineup.

Today for review I’ve got the V9 Black Edition PC Gaming Case from Thermaltake. It features two big 23cm fans, one located on the top and one on the side. As the name Black Edition suggests, it’s a black case, both inside and out, with red accents in the form of the LEDs in the front fan and parts of the inside of the case. Continue on for a closer look at the V9 Gaming Case…

The Thermaltake V9 comes packaged well with styrofoam padded and a protective plastic bag over the case. There’s also plastic stuck to the case to protect parts of the case and tape to make sure the drive covers stay in place during transport.

On the front is located four 5.25″ bays and two 3.5″ bays along with a front intake cooling fan. On the top of the case you’ll find the power and reset buttons along with two USB ports and audio ports. Towards the back of the top is located one of the 230mm fans.

The left side of the case is basically plain except for the second 230mm cooling fan.

On the right side of the case though you’ll find ventilation holes on the top and bottom where the CPU would be located and where the hard drives are.

On the bottom we find rubber feet and a filter ventilation area for the power supply, yes the PSU mounts on the bottom of the case.

On the back of the case we find the 120mm exhaust fan, along with the standard stuff, with the addition of holes for water cooling tubing to be passed through. Both right and left side of the case are held on with thumbscrews.

Removing the sides is easy thanks to the thumbscrews, we can get a better look at the 230mm fan on the left side.

The front bezel pops off easily revealing removable inserts for the drive bays and a filter for the front intake fan.

Once the sides are off we can get a better look at the inside of the case, the first thing you’ll notice is that there’s a hole in the motherboard tray, but not just any hole, one that’s shaped like a fan and has mounting holes for one. The V9 case allows you to install a thin profile fan to help keep your CPU cool.

One thing I like about this case is that no rails are required for installation, it’s basically all tool-less except for installing the motherboard where you’ll need and want to use screws. The optical and hard drive bays features twisting locks and the PCI slots are also tool-less. The locks for all of them are colored red.

Here’s the view from inside of the 230mm top fan the the PSU area, along with the motherboard connections:

There’s not much included with the V9 case, user manual, other literature, screws, a couple zip ties and some black square plastic thing that I’ve got no clue what it’s for.

I had no problems getting my system in there, even though the card I’ve got, an ECS GTS250 is rather large, it still fit fine with room left to spare for even larger cards to fit.

Installing the hard drive and optical drive was easy as well, just slide it in and turn the lock, that’s it, no rails to use.

The drives mount with the connections to the right side of the case, not my ideal way but it works to help keep things tidy. Here’s a view from the right side of the case, you can see how it’s a very open style case, many cases have the motherboard tray that goes all the way to the bottom, the V9 has the open style which I like.

When the case is powered on there’s not much to rally look at, the red LEDs in the front fan actually aren’t very bright, which is nice. There’s also a dim red LED in the power button as well. Overall it’s not a very flashy case, more subtle than anything, but yet stylish and functional.

The fans are nice and quiet, and installation was easy as there is a lot of room inside of the case.

Overall it’s a nice case but I do have a couple complaints…

There’s no fan grills on the fans, especially for the one on the side, it really needs one.

The tool-less PCI locks are not the best especially for larger, heavier video cards.

Conclusion:

The Thermaltake V9 Black Edition Gaming Chassis is a nice case overall, it has a spacious interior and plenty of room for storage and expansion. The V9 is also well made, it seems sturdy but yet lightweight with a nice design with attention to aesthetics.

I can recommend this case easily to anyone looking for a decent quality, and good looking gaming system.

Pros:+Nicely made+Extra cooling ventilation on the right side+Lots of room+Almost completely tool-less

I agree, I did make the purchase of this case over a week ago, I have transfered my parts from a much heavier and sturdier Coolermaster so it looked all ” FLIMSY” at first. I did take out the no-tools PCIe locking mechanism as I did not like the way it holds my cards, they still could move and that I do not like at all as I need to get inside at times. I did hav a problem with the SIDE Fan, it cracked in the middle and that would be the cheap fanblade plastic of the fan and what ever liquid they had put in theis fan so it did not run, I tried using crazy glue / cement and it is running but heck I just bought it. The case is NOT to be moved while it is up and running so I found out, if you do the TOP COOLING fan makes noise as if it is about to explode. Again cheap 230mm Fan, I did send Themaltek an email and am wondering what their reply will be. I LOVE the case even with these minor “differences”. My CPU is MUCH cooler and I like th RED FAN in front of the case. The ONLy thing I do NOT like is that these fans are not 3-pin fans so I cannot SEE or regulate the RPM of the Fans, but this is a minor issue. Over all a wonder ful case after my initial shock of the very light thin materials used. I would give it a 9 on the scale of 10. So now I want to know where I can BUY a better 230mm x 230 mm X 20mm , 800 rpm, 13 dBA and with 3-pin connector

Sasuke

Hey Kristofer, can you tell me how many fan connectors there are ?

I’m gonna buy this case and a GA-790XTA-UD4 a.k.a. GA-MA790X(T)(A)-UD4P.

I wanna ’cause this motherboard has two sys fans connectors only and the case has four fans plus one that’s optional.

Thanks in advance.

burnleyjohn

Hi, I’d just like to share my experience. Within a couple of months of getting this case (in July last year), I had trouble with the top fan. On turning on the computer it started rattling and one of the blades of the fan snapped off and went pinging around inside the rig (fortunately no other damage was caused). I dallied for a while but eventually I took it back to the shop to get a replacement top fan just after Christmas. Now, less than a year after getting the replacement fan, the same thing has happened, although I haven’t lost a blade yet…